In a bid to deepen compliance tradition throughout the Nigeria knowledge processing ecosystem, the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has carried out a sensible audit coaching for licensed Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCOs) in Abuja.
The two-day coaching, held on November 10 -11, 2026 on the Nigerian Army Conference Centre and Suites (NACCAS),was organised by the fee in collaboration with Meta below the NDPC Initiative for Data Protection.
While declaring the coaching open, NDPC National Commissioner and CEO, Dr Vincent Olatunji, stated the DPCOs as licensed entities authorised to hold out knowledge safety providers on behalf of the fee,want sufficient coaching and retraining to successfully discharge their duties according to moral finest practices.
According to him, the variety of licensed DPCOs throughout Nigeria has expanded from an preliminary 17 to 367 organisations, a gentle development that displays rising nationwide demand for knowledge privateness auditing and compliance advisory.
The NDPC helmsman urged the DPCOs to uphold utmost moral requirements as they act on behalf of the fee, warning towards nonchalance and sharp practices to keep away from penalties, including that licenses will probably be revoked for submitting false or deceptive compliance audit stories and inaccurate fillings.
“As regulators, we have given part of our power to you to work for us , and you must do the work very well, and that is why this training will continue on a regular basis,” he stated.
Olatunji famous that the directive by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and a July 27, 2026 round from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF, mandating all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to conform absolutely with the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDP Act), 2023, has opened new frontiers for the DPCOs in type of consulting alternatives.
In her presentation, Ibukunoluwa Owa, Head of Regulations Unit on the NDPC, spoke on the DPCO ecosystem as a public-private partnership strategy to privateness regulation.
While explaining the DPCO code of conduct, OWa famous that restricted manpower and sources to oversee knowledge controllers and knowledge processors necessitated the DPCO initiative, including that Nigeria has over 220 million knowledge topics, and adopting a Public-Private Partnership(PPP) mannequin was crucial to lift consciousness and deepen the privateness tradition throughout Nigeria.
Thematic focus of the two-day coaching included Compliance Checklist Audit, Audit Governance and Documentation, Auditing Security and Technical Measures, Auditing Transfer and Third-Party Systems, Findings, Risk Rating and the Audit Report, amongst different subjects.
Some of the individuals who spoke with newsmen on the sideline, expressed appreciation to NDPC and Meta for the coaching, describing it as a well timed intervention within the discharge of their duties as DPCOs.
Adefunke Makanjuola,Joan Consult Limited, stated: “I learnt so much from this training.’ As DPCOs, there are so many things we were not doing so well before now, but with this training we are in a better position to do things seamlessly”.
Also talking, Adaeze Onu of ECAM Global Services Nig.Ltd, lauded NDPC for the chance, including that “the event has been very insightful and quite practical because the facilitators have been great with the teaching”.
“They have given us practical insight into how to properly ensure that organisations comply with the NDPA Act and also how to perform different kinds of tests,” she stated.
A facilitator, Timothy Ogele, stated the DPCOs had been the one authorised our bodies to assist the NDPC guarantee compliance, and due to this fact wanted periodic coaching.
“There have been a whole lot of gaps in compliance audits, both resulting from lack of depth when it comes to understanding what must be performed proper, or procedural defects.
“This training will actually help the DPCOs to actually know what to do in terms of conducting compliance audits,” he stated.
